90-year-old American cyclist to be stripped of title for failing drug test

Carl Grove, a 90-year-old American cyclist, won the men’s 90-94 sprint race at the U.S. Masters Track National Championships last July. But because of a failed drug test, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will strip him of that title. Photo courtesy of Bicycling.

Carl Grove, a 90-year-old cyclist, won the men’s 90-94 sprint race during the U.S. Masters Track National Championships last July. And for a man his age, that’s an incredible feat. Unfortunately for Grove, he recently tested positive for epitrenbolone. Because of the violation, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will strip Grove of the record, according to BBC Sport..

“USADA announced today that Carl Grove, of Bristol, Ind., an athlete in the sport of cycling, has accepted a public warning for his anti-doping rule violations.”

“Grove, 90, tested positive for epitrenbolone, which is a metabolite of the prohibited substance trenbolone, as the result of an in-competition urine sample he provided on July 11, 2018 after setting a world record at the Masters Track National Championships. While investigating the source of his positive test, it was also determined that a supplement Grove was using prior to July 11, 2018 was contaminated with clomiphene.”

Grove claims consuming contaminated meat was “more likely than not” the reason why he tested positive. But before he consumed the meat, according to USADA, Grove took an in-competition test on July 10 and tested negative.

However, “Before disclosing his consumption of meat on the evening prior to submitting his July 11 sample, Grove provided USADA with information about supplements he had used, none of which listed clomiphene or any other prohibited substances on the Supplement Facts label.”

And since USADA collected the positive sample in-competition, “Grove has been disqualified from competitive results obtained on July 11, 2018, the date his sample was collected.”